The Regions: Southern Africa

The following objects originated in Southern Africa:

Until the Bantu-speaking peoples started to occupy the area about 2000 years ago, most of Southern Africa was lived in by hunting and gathering ancestors of the present-day San groups.

The colonists were moving in search of new land for a shifting form of cultivation, initially settling in the well-watered area south of the Limpopo. Later incomers moved into more southerly areas. They displaced some of the earlier immigrants, in addition occupying uplands and relying more on cattle keeping. Their descendants are the Nguni (including Zulu and Xhosa), the Sotho and Tswana.

Mapungubwe and later Great Zimbabwe were originally market centres dealing in gold and ivory, also copper, salt and iron. The people of Great Zimbabwe perfected a tradition of stone-built defensive and ceremonial structures about 500 years ago.

About 400 years ago, a Dutch shipping station was established on the Cape of Good Hope, capturing both Xhosa and San for slaves and servants. Extension of Cape Colony at the beginning of the 19th century led to wars between Europeans and local peoples.

Militaristic expansion of Northern Nguni groups, mostly Zulu but also Swazi, resulted in rapid population shifts in the early 19th century. These resulted in the rapid formation of warrior kingdoms elsewhere in south-east Africa. Differences in status were emphasised in costume and domestic items through the use of scarce or exotic items. Examples include copper and rare glass beads in costume, and in domestic items head-rests incorporating cattle forms.

Read about Fortescue who collected these artefacts